Education Portal for Students in India

By country – The following table indicates at what ages compulsory education starts and ends in different countries. The most common age for starting compulsory education is 6, but that varies between 3 and 7.

Country/Region	Lower age range	Upper age range	Notes
Argentina	4	18
Australia	5	15/17	Upper age limit varies among states. Waived if pursuing full-time employment or full-time education.
Austria	6	15	Compulsory education requires nine years spent in school. After completing all mandatory schooldays, it is obligatory to attend a secondary school or do an apprenticeship until the age of 18.
Belgium	6	18	In Belgium, only compulsory education applies. School is not compulsory.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	6	15
Bulgaria	5	16	Since 2012, compulsory education includes two years of preschool education before children start primary school.
Brazil	4	17	Last changed in 2009.
Canada	5–7	16/18	Children who turn five by 31 December are required to begin schooling in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Yukon. In Alberta, Newfoundland and Labrador, the Northwest Territories, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec, a child is required to attend school at the age of six. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are the only provinces where the minimum compulsory attendance age is seven. Attendance in school is compulsory until the student reaches the age of 16 in all provinces except Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick. In the latter three provinces, attendance is compulsory until the student is 18 years old.
China	6	15
Croatia	6	15
Costa Rica	4	17
Cyprus	5	15	Compulsory education starts with one mandatory year of pre-primary (preschool) education.
Denmark	6	16
Egypt	6	14
England and Wales	4	16	Requirement is for a full-time education, but attendance at a school is not compulsory (section 7 of The Education Act 1996 ).
Estonia	6/7	15/16	6 year olds can enter if they turn 7 by 1 October in the same year.
Finland	7	18	Beginning age is negotiable ± 1 year. The law changed at the end of 2020 from the age of 15 to now 18.
France	3	16	Compulsory education only
Germany	6	16	Varies slightly between states.
Greece	5	15	Compulsory education starts with one mandatory year of pre-primary (preschool) education.
Haiti	6	11	The Haitian Constitution mandates that education be free of charge. However, even public schools charge substantial fees.80% of children go to private schools.
Hong Kong	6	15	Hong Kong laws state that education is mandatory for 12 years (primary and secondary) and free for 15 years (kindergarten, primary and secondary) except for private schools or subsidized schools.
Hungary	3	16	Since 2015, kindergarten is compulsory from age 3, although exceptions are made for developmental reasons.
India	3	18	The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act in August 2009 made education free and compulsory for children aged between 6 and 14. This was further updated by National Education Policy 2020 which made education free and compulsory for children aged between 3 and 18.
Indonesia	7	16
Israel	3	16	Compulsory education takes place from kindergarten through to 10th grade.
Iran	6	12
Italy	6	16
Jamaica	5	16	Parents could face charges of Child Neglect if they prevent their children from going to school without valid reasons. Not enforced.
Japan	6	15
Latvia	5	16
Luxembourg	4	16
Malaysia	6	12
Maldives	6	15
Mexico	6	18	Schooling is required through upper secondary school (Preparatoria).
Morocco	6	15
Netherlands	5	18	Students are allowed to leave early after obtaining their ‘start qualification’ (MBO level 2, HAVO or VWO degree).
New Zealand	6	16	Children typically commence school at five years. There is no direct cost until the age of 19.
Norway	6	15	A total of ten years (of study, and not schooling, as suggested here), where Primary school is year 1-7 (without grades), and Lower Secondary school (with grades) is year 8-10.
Philippines	4-6	18	This was modified from 6-16 due to the addition of compulsory kindergarten and senior high school.
Poland	7	18	Polish law distinguishes between compulsory school (obowiązek szkolny) and compulsory education (obowiązek nauki).
Portugal	6	18	It is the law that children living in Portugal (if there for 4 months or more) must go to school. Home schooling is available with registration at a school and quarterly examinations in the Portuguese curriculum only.
Romania	5-6	18-19	Since 2020, the last year of kindergarten, as well as the last two years of high school were added to compulsory education, bringing compulsory education to a total of 14 years. (see Education in Romania )
Russia	6	17	Student may leave after age 15 with the approval of parents and the local authority.
Scotland	5	16	A person is of school age if he has attained the age of five years and has not attained the age of sixteen years.
Slovenia	6	15
Singapore	7	15	Compulsory Education Act 2000. Children who are homeschooled may be exempted from the Act. From 2019, children with moderate-to-severe special education needs are no longer exempt from the Act (children with mild special education needs were already covered by the Act).
Spain	6	16
Syria	6	15	Typical ages for 9 years of compulsory education from grade 1 to grade 9.
Sweden	6	16
Switzerland	4-6	15	Varies by canton,
Qatar	5	18	Education shall be compulsory and free for all children from the beginning of the primary stage until the end of the preparatory stage or the age of eighteen, whichever is earlier.
Taiwan	7	18	Typical ages for 9 years (6-15) of compulsory education (starting from 1968) and optional extend to age 18 (non compulsory, starting from 2014).
Thailand	4	15	Only compulsory education applies. School is not compulsory in Thailand.
Turkey	6	18	From the 1st to the 12th grade, education is compulsory. Starting in the educational year of 2012–2013, an education reform took effect to bring the compulsory education up to the end of high school. The system is commonly referred to as 4+4+4.
United States	5-8	15-18	Ages vary between states. Beginning age varies 5–8, ending age varies 15–18. In Wisconsin v. Yoder, the Supreme Court determined in 1972 that Amish children could not be placed under compulsory education laws past the 8th grade,
Uruguay	6	14
Zimbabwe	6	16	Typical ages for 11 years of compulsory education.

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When did compulsory education start in India?

Departmen of School Education & Literacy The Constitution (Eighty-sixth Amendment) Act, 2002 inserted Article 21-A in the Constitution of India to provide free and compulsory education of all children in the age group of six to fourteen years as a Fundamental Right in such a manner as the State may, by law, determine.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which represents the consequential legislation envisaged under Article 21-A, means that every child has a right to full time elementary education of satisfactory and equitable quality in a formal school which satisfies certain essential norms and standards.

Article 21-A and the RTE Act came into effect on 1 April 2010. The title of the RTE Act incorporates the words ‘free and compulsory’. ‘Free education’ means that no child, other than a child who has been admitted by his or her parents to a school which is not supported by the appropriate Government, shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education.

1. Compulsory education’ casts an obligation on the appropriate Government and local authorities to provide and ensure admission, attendance and completion of elementary education by all children in the 6-14 age group.
2. With this, India has moved forward to a rights based framework that casts a legal obligation on the Central and State Governments to implement this fundamental child right as enshrined in the Article 21A of the Constitution, in accordance with the provisions of the RTE Act.

The RTE Act provides for the:

Right of children to free and compulsory education till completion of elementary education in a neighbourhood school. It clarifies that ‘compulsory education’ means obligation of the appropriate government to provide free elementary education and ensure compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education to every child in the six to fourteen age group. ‘Free’ means that no child shall be liable to pay any kind of fee or charges or expenses which may prevent him or her from pursuing and completing elementary education. It makes provisions for a non-admitted child to be admitted to an age appropriate class. It specifies the duties and responsibilities of appropriate Governments, local authority and parents in providing free and compulsory education, and sharing of financial and other responsibilities between the Central and State Governments. It lays down the norms and standards relating inter alia to Pupil Teacher Ratios (PTRs), buildings and infrastructure, school-working days, teacher-working hours. It provides for rational deployment of teachers by ensuring that the specified pupil teacher ratio is maintained for each school, rather than just as an average for the State or District or Block, thus ensuring that there is no urban-rural imbalance in teacher postings. It also provides for prohibition of deployment of teachers for non-educational work, other than decennial census, elections to local authority, state legislatures and parliament, and disaster relief. It provides for appointment of appropriately trained teachers, i.e. teachers with the requisite entry and academic qualifications. It prohibits (a) physical punishment and mental harassment; (b) screening procedures for admission of children; (c) capitation fee; (d) private tuition by teachers and (e) running of schools without recognition, It provides for development of curriculum in consonance with the values enshrined in the Constitution, and which would ensure the all-round development of the child, building on the child’s knowledge, potentiality and talent and making the child free of fear, trauma and anxiety through a system of child friendly and child centered learning.

: Departmen of School Education & Literacy
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What is the value of education in 21st century?

A 21st century education is about giving students the skills they need to succeed in this new world, and helping them grow the confidence to practice those skills. With so much information readily available to them, 21st century skills focus more on making sense of that information, sharing and using it in smart ways.
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What is the value of an education?

Education in your career – More and more professions in our modern-day require a college degree at a minimum. These jobs tend to come with more benefits and pay better than those that don’t require a college education. Sure, you could deliver packages and make decent money, but think about how much more you can make with technical and analytical skills or any skill.
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When did education begin in the world?

China – According to legendary accounts, the rulers Yao and Shun (ca.24th–23rd century BC) established the first schools. The first education system was created in Xia dynasty (2076–1600 BC). During Xia dynasty, government built schools to educate aristocrats about rituals, literature and archery (important for ancient Chinese aristocrats).

During Shang dynasty (1600 BC to 1046 BC), normal people (farmers, workers etc.) accepted rough education. In that time, aristocrats’ children studied in government schools. And normal people studied in private schools. Government schools were always built in cities and private schools were built in rural areas.

Government schools paid attention on educating students about rituals, literature, politics, music, arts and archery. Private schools educated students to do farmwork and handworks. During the Zhou dynasty (1045–256 BC), there were five national schools in the capital city, Pi Yong (an imperial school, located in a central location) and four other schools for the aristocrats and nobility, including Shang Xiang,

The schools mainly taught the Six Arts : rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics. According to the Book of Rites, at age twelve, boys learned arts related to ritual (i.e. music and dance) and when older, archery and chariot driving. Girls learned ritual, correct deportment, silk production and weaving.

It was during the Zhou dynasty that the origins of native Chinese philosophy also developed. Confucius (551–479 BC) founder of Confucianism, was a Chinese philosopher who made a great impact on later generations of Chinese, and on the curriculum of the Chinese educational system for much of the following 2000 years.

Later, during the Qin dynasty (246–207 BC), a hierarchy of officials was set up to provide central control over the outlying areas of the empire. To enter this hierarchy, both literacy and knowledge of the increasing body of philosophy was required: “.the content of the educational process was designed not to engender functionally specific skills but rather to produce morally enlightened and cultivated generalists”.

During the Han dynasty (206–221 AD), boys were thought ready at age seven to start learning basic skills in reading, writing and calculation. In 124 BC, the Emperor Wudi established the Imperial Academy, the curriculum of which was the Five Classics of Confucius.

By the end of the Han dynasty (220 AD) the academy enrolled more than 30,000 students, boys between the ages of fourteen and seventeen years. However education through this period was a luxury. The nine-rank system was a civil service nomination system during the Three Kingdoms (220–280 AD) and the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589 AD) in China.

Theoretically, local government authorities were given the task of selecting talented candidates, then categorizing them into nine grades depending on their abilities. In practice, however, only the rich and powerful would be selected. The Nine Rank System was eventually superseded by the imperial examination system for the civil service in the Sui dynasty (581–618 AD).
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What is the history of compulsory education?

Early Compulsory Education Laws in the U.S. – Massachusetts became the first U.S. state to enact a compulsory education law in 1852, having already passed a similar law in 1647 when it was still a British colony. The 1852 law required every city and town to offer primary school, focusing on grammar and basic arithmetic.

1. Parents who refused to send their children to school were fined and (in some cases) stripped of their parental rights, and their children apprenticed to others.
2. Prior to the Massachusetts law and in other states without such laws, education typically was provided by private schools run by churches,
3. Since they also charged tuition, poorer children were excluded or received informal schooling at home.

That would change during the immigration boom between the 19th and 20th centuries, as education was seen as the best way to assimilate immigrant children, During that time, numerous states enacted compulsory education laws designed to take education out of the hands of parochial schools and primarily into the purview of state-run, public schools.

1. These actions were taken in a growing response to fear of “immigrant” values and the Catholic Church itself.
2. The Supreme Court later overturned these so-called “compulsory education” laws that required students to attend public schools only.
3. Another motivation was the growing public concern over child labor and the belief that compulsory attendance at school would discourage factory owners from exploiting children.

In fact, Alabama temporarily repealed its compulsory education law in response to pressure from a large textile company in the state. Mississippi was the last state to pass a law requiring school attendance in 1917. Still, enforcement of these state laws was largely ineffective until states began to realize the value of an educated workforce.
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Who has introduced compulsory education?

Published: June 10, 2011 Gopal Krishna Gokhale had introduced a bill in the Imperial legislative Assembly in 1911 to implement the principle of compulsory primary education for children of 6-10 years age. The bill got failed and was defeated in 1892, March by 38-13.
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What is 21st century education concept?

By Sara Hallerman, Colon Lewis, and Brad Dresbach We’ve all heard the term. Many of us even use it regularly. And we probably all have a gut feeling of what 21st century learning or a 21st century education is. But can we define it? It might be easier to define it by first explaining what a 21st century education is not (or what a 20th century education was—and still is in many places).

• A 21st century education is not a bunch of students sitting quietly at desks, in neat rows, writing down every word that the teacher says or writes on the blackboard (or smartboard).
• It’s not teaching to the test, telling students what they need to memorize to get an A+, assuming every child is or should be on the same path, or measuring schools or teachers solely by average ACT scores and college acceptance rates.

And it’s not something that ends at 3:00 every day, or on Friday of every week, or even in the spring of each year. It’s a lifelong journey. As Dr. Kimberly Pietsch Miller, superintendent of Bexley City Schools (OH), said, “The finish line isn’t May of 12th grade.” Defining and delivering 21st century learning is a little messier than that.

It’s a little more complicated. A little more nuanced. A whole lot harder to assess. And when done correctly, it creates environments in which engaged students are actively shaping their learning. The role of educators in the 21st century should be helping every student learn how to learn. It’s inspiring creativity, encouraging collaboration, expecting and rewarding critical thinking, and teaching children not only how to communicate, but also the power of effective communication,

These are skills students need to develop in order to thrive in today’s and tomorrow’s dynamic workplace. To be clear, we’re not suggesting children no longer need the 3Rs, or STEM classes, or technical training for a vocational path. We’re simply saying that those things alone aren’t enough. And to do that, we need to look at everything in our school systems. What is necessary and unnecessary? Which aspects are developing skills that students can take with them for the rest of their lives, versus facts they need to know for the test? How are we intentionally developing competencies and skills we want our students to be able to build upon after graduation? At Battelle for Kids, we offer a number of resources to help deliver a 21st century education.

A Portrait of a Graduate Our national EdLeader21 network and statewide SOAR networks for visionary educational leaders The P21 network for businesses, organizations, and associations collaborating to accelerate 21st century learning

However, these resources and networks are only truly useful when all the educators, school leaders, district leaders, school board members, teachers, community members, and students have a shared understanding of what a 21st century education is, and more importantly, why providing and getting one is so crucial to the success of your school, your students, your community, our country, and our planet.

So, what is a 21st century education? To a certain extent, it can’t be fully defined because it is constantly changing. But we do know a few things. A 21st century education is one that responds to the economical, technological, and societal shifts that are happening at an ever-increasing pace. It’s an education that sets children up to succeed in a world where more than half of the jobs they’ll have over their careers don’t even exist yet.

In short, it’s an education that provides students with the skills and competencies they need to thrive in the 21st century. Untitled Document Sara Hallerman Senior Director, EdLeader21, a Network of Battelle for Kids Colon Lewis, EdD Senior Director, Battelle for Kids Brad Dresbach Director, Battelle for Kids
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What is the 21st century learning?

Twenty-first Century Learning Definition and Meaning What is Twenty-first century learning is the accumulation of knowledge, work habits and soft skills, including digital literacy, critical thinking and problem-solving, that will help students lead successful careers in the modern workplace.

Students are expected to develop skills like these while producing content for their classes. This mode of learning accounts for an increasingly digital learning landscape, where students depend on accessing information via the internet and relying on virtual classrooms for content delivery. Twenty-first century learning refers to developing learning, literacy and life skills as part of the classroom experience.

Learning skills encompass critical thinking, creativity, collaboration and communication, which have been identified as essential for successfully adapting to modern work environments. Literacy skills, including information, media and technology literacy, focus on understanding figures, evaluating a source’s credibility and understanding the machines and computer networks that we rely upon today.
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Why is education a value?

1. Provides Stability – Education provides stability in life, and it’s something that no one can ever take away from you. By being well-educated and holding a college degree, you increase your chances for better career opportunities and open up new doors for yourself.
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Why is value education needed?

THE AIMS OF VALUES EDUCATION – This concept is about the educational process that instils moral standards to create more civil and democratic societies. Values education therefore promotes tolerance and understanding above and beyond our political, cultural and religious differences, putting special emphasis on the defence of human rights, the protection of ethnic minorities and the most vulnerable groups, and the conservation of the environment. Characteristics of values education.
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Who was the first to be educated?

Mesopotamia – As a civilization contemporary with Egyptian civilization, Mesopotamia developed education quite similar to that of its counterpart with respect to its purpose and training. Formal education was practical and aimed to train scribes and priests.

• It was extended from basic reading, writing, and religion to higher learning in law, medicine, and astrology,
• Generally, youth of the upper classes were prepared to become scribes, who ranged from copyists to librarians and teachers.
• The schools for priests were said to be as numerous as temples.
• This indicates not only the thoroughness but also the supremacy of priestly education.

Very little is known about higher education, but the advancement of the priestly work sheds light upon the extensive nature of intellectual pursuit. As in the case of Egypt, the priests in Mesopotamia dominated the intellectual and educational domain as well as the applied.

• The centre of intellectual activity and training was the library, which was usually housed in a temple under the supervision of influential priests.
• Methods of teaching and learning were memorization, oral repetition, copying models, and individual instruction.
• It is believed that the exact copying of scripts was the hardest and most strenuous and served as the test of excellence in learning.

The period of education was long and rigorous, and discipline was harsh.
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Who was the first educational?

Legacy and influence – The Ministry of Minority Affairs of the central Government of India set up the Maulana Azad Education Foundation in 1989 on the occasion of his birth centenary to promote education amongst educationally backward sections of the Society. The Ministry also provides the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Fellowship, an integrated five-year fellowship in the form of financial assistance to students from minority communities to pursue higher studies such as M.Phil.

• And PhD In 1992 government of India honoured by giving posthumously Bharat Ratna,
• Numerous institutions across India have also been named in his honour.
• Some of them are the Maulana Azad Medical College in New Delhi, the Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology in Bhopal, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad, Maulana Azad Centre for Elementary and Social Education (MACESE Delhi University ), the Maulana Azad College, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, in Kolkata, Bab – e – Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (Gate No.7), Jamia Millia Islamia, A Central (Minority) University in New Delhi, the Maulana Azad library in the Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh and Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu,

His home housed the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies earlier, and is now the Maulana Azad Museum. National Education Day (India) an annual observance in India to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of independent India, who served from 15 August 1947 until 2 February 1958.

• National Education Day of India is celebrated on 11 November every year in India.
• He is celebrated as one of the founders and greatest patrons of the Jamia Millia Islamia.
• Azad’s tomb is located next to the Jama Masjid in Delhi.
• In recent years great concern has been expressed by many in India over the poor maintenance of the tomb.

On 16 November 2005 the Delhi High Court ordered that the tomb of Maulana Azad in New Delhi be renovated and restored as a major national monument. Azad’s tomb is a major landmark and receives large numbers of visitors annually. Jawaharlal Nehru referred to him as Mir-i- Karawan (the caravan leader), “a very brave and gallant gentleman, a finished product of the culture that, in these days, pertains to few”.

• Mahatma Gandhi remarked about Azad by counting him as “a person of the calibre of Plato, Aristotle and Pythagorus”.
• Azad was portrayed by actor Virendra Razdan in the 1982 biographical film, Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough,
• A television series, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, aired on DD National in the 1990s and starred Mangal Dhillon in the titular role.

DD Urdu aired Seher Hone Tak, a docudrama television series by Lavlin Thadani based on his life and political career, with Aamir Bashir portraying the role of Azad. It was later shortened and re-released as the film Aashiq-e-Vatan – Maulana Azad, Woh Jo Tha Ek Massiah Maulana Azad, a 2019 biographical film about Azad was directed by Rajendra Gupta Sanjay and Sanjay Singh Negi, with Linesh Fanse playing the titular role.

• 1966
• 1988
• 2015

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Who introduced compulsory education in India?

The Resolutions adopted by the 22nd Indian National Congress, held at Calcutta from December 26 to December 29, 1906, pointed out that ‘Government should take immediate steps for (i) making primary education free and gradually compulsory all over the country’ (Report of the Twenty-Second Indian National Congress, 1907,
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What is the education Act of 1980?

Version Download 893 File Size 3.55 MB File Count 1 Create Date January 30, 2020 Last Updated January 30, 2020

Download Description This was an act providing for the establishment and maintenance of an integrated system of education, In accordance with Section 2, this act shall apply to and govern both formal and non- formal system in public and private schools in all levels of the entire educational system.
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When did education become compulsory until 18?

Is education compulsory after the age of 16? – Under previous legislation it was compulsory for young people to remain in education until the age of 16. However, as a result of legislation introduced in September 2013, the law now requires that young people continue in education, employment or training until the age of 18.
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Why did compulsory education rise in the 19th century?

Learning Objectives –

1. Explain why compulsory education arose during the 19th century.
2. Outline some scholars’ criticisms of the rise of compulsory education.

Education is the social institution through which a society teaches its members the skills, knowledge, norms, and values they need to learn to become good, productive members of their society. As this definition makes clear, education is an important part of socialization.

Education is both formal and informal, Formal education is often referred to as schooling, and as this term implies, it occurs in schools under teachers, principals, and other specially trained professionals. Informal education may occur almost anywhere, but for young children it has traditionally occurred primarily in the home, with their parents as their instructors.

Day care has become an increasingly popular venue in industrial societies for young children’s instruction, and education from the early years of life is thus more formal than it used to be. Education in early America was hardly formal. During the colonial period, the Puritans in what is now Massachusetts required parents to teach their children to read and also required larger towns to have an elementary school, where children learned reading, writing, and religion.

In general, though, schooling was not required in the colonies, and only about 10% of colonial children, usually just the wealthiest, went to school, although others became apprentices (Urban, Jennings, & Wagoner, 2008). To help unify the nation after the Revolutionary War, textbooks were written to standardize spelling and pronunciation and to instill patriotism and religious beliefs in students.

At the same time, these textbooks included negative stereotypes of Native Americans and certain immigrant groups. The children going to school continued primarily to be those from wealthy families. By the mid-1800s, a call for free, compulsory education had begun, and compulsory education became widespread by the end of the century. In colonial America, only about 10% of children went to school, and these children tended to come from wealthy families. After the Revolutionary War, new textbooks helped standardize spelling and pronunciation and promote patriotism and religious beliefs, but these textbooks also included negative stereotypes of Native Americans.

Free, compulsory education, of course, applied only to primary and secondary schools. Until the mid-1900s, very few people went to college, and those who did typically came from the fairly wealthy families. After World War II, however, college enrollments soared, and today more people are attending college than ever before, even though college attendance is still related to social class, as we shall discuss shortly.

At least two themes emerge from this brief history. One is that until very recently in the record of history, formal schooling was restricted to wealthy males. This means that boys who were not white and rich were excluded from formal schooling, as were virtually all girls, whose education was supposed to take place informally at home.

Today, as we will see, race, ethnicity, social class, and, to some extent, gender continue to affect both educational achievement and the amount of learning occurring in schools. Second, although the rise of free, compulsory education was an important development, the reasons for this development trouble some critics (Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Cole, 2008).

Because compulsory schooling began in part to prevent immigrants’ values from corrupting “American” values, they see its origins as smacking of ethnocentrism. They also criticize its intention to teach workers the skills they needed for the new industrial economy.

1. Because most workers were very poor in this economy, these critics say, compulsory education served the interests of the upper/capitalist class much more than it served the interests of workers.
2. It was good that workers became educated, say the critics, but in the long run their education helped the owners of capital much more than it helped the workers themselves.

Whose interests are served by education remains an important question addressed by sociological perspectives on education, to which we now turn.
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What did the Education Act of 1870 do?

The Elementary Education of 1870, also known as The Forster Act after the liberal Parliament member William Forster, was a reformation act that required national compulsory education for children ages five to 13 in England and Wales. The Act was one of the first passed by Parliament that promoted compulsory education and its goals were to provide free, compulsory, nonreligious education for children where schools were not available and to reduce the amount of child labor in England and Wales.

• Many more acts dealing with compulsory education were passed between the years 1870 and 1893 (Dalgleish).
• The Elementary Education Act covered reforms for many aspects of a child’s education, including public funding for schools, regular inspections by the school board to ensure proper educational spaces as well as a high quality of schooling, and educational financial support from parents who are able.

The Act also institutionalized a religious separation from public education, stating that religious teachings be non-denominational and the Act also allowed parents to decide whether or not to withdraw their children from any religious schooling. The Act also allowed women to be elected on school boards as reforms for women’s rights were also being promoted through the Married Women’s Property Act of the same year (Tucker).

The main backlash against the Elementary Education Act dealt with religious pressures and uncertainty of funding. With the general advancement away from education intersecting with religion, the Church of England was afraid of a loss of control over the education of Great Britain while some specific schools also wanted to continue to have denominational teachings.

The Educational Act resolved these issues by still allowing schools to choose to teach religion but also allowing parents to withdraw students from these teachings as well as not favoring one denomination of Christianity over another. Another fear that arose from the Act was the uncertainty of mass education and state subsidies (Dalgleish).

1. The Act then required parents who could afford to pay for their child’s schooling to do so while those who could not would be supported through state subsidies.
2. Dalgleish, Walter.
3. A Plain Reading of the Elementary Education Act.
4. London, John Marshall & Co., 1870.
5. Tucker, Herbert F.
6. In the Event of a Second Reform.” BRANCH: Britain, Representation and Nineteenth-Century History.

Ed. Dino Franco Felluga. Extension of Romanticism and Victorianism on the Net, June 2012, Web. Accessed 2 November 2020.
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What was the first compulsory education law in the new world?

On this day in 1642, Massachusetts Bay Colony passed the first law in the New World requiring that children be taught to read and write. The English Puritans who founded Massachusetts believed that the well-being of individuals, along with the success of the colony, depended on a people literate enough to read both the Bible and the laws of the land. Colonial Massachusetts was among the very first places in the world to make the education of young people a public responsibility. The English Puritans who settled Boston in 1630 believed that children’s welfare, on earth and in the afterlife, depended in large part on their ability to read and understand the Bible.

• The success of the colony also rested on a literate citizenry; men should be able to read and understand the laws governing them.
• The founders of Massachusetts Bay recognized that the next generation would need leaders who were learned in theology, philosophy, and government.
• For both religious and political reasons, then, the Puritans began almost immediately to establish schools.

The first was the Boston Latin School opened in 1635, the nation’s oldest publicly funded school. Unlike most schools in England, Boston Latin was not established by a church; it was created by the Boston Town Meeting. Voters agreed to use rents collected for Deer, Long, and Spectacle Islands in Boston Harbor to support the school and pay a schoolmaster.

A few other early Massachusetts towns followed Boston’s example. In 1636, Charlestown voted to use the rent for one of the islands it owned for the maintenance of a school. The next year, the town of Salem opened a school, and two years later, Dorchester dedicated public funds “towards the maytenance of a schoole,

a schoole-master as shall undertake to teach english, latine, and other tongues, and also writing.” Called grammar schools, these early public schools were intended primarily for boys who were preparing to enter the ministry. All children in early Massachusetts were expected to learn to read and write, but most received a basic education at home from their parents.

It was not long before Puritan leaders began to worry that many parents were not fulfilling this obligation. In 1642 the General Court passed a law that required heads of households to teach all their dependents — apprentices and servants as well as their own children — to read English or face a fine.

Parents could provide the instruction themselves or hire someone else to do it. Selectmen were to keep “a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors,” young people whose education was neglected could be removed from their parents or masters. Five years later, disturbed by what it perceived as persistent parental negligence, the General Court passed a more comprehensive law, the first to require that towns provide schools (although in practice the law was generally applied only to free, male, white children).

All towns with 50 or more families were obligated to hire a schoolmaster to teach children to read and write. In towns of 100 or more families, the schoolmaster (who was usually a recent Harvard College graduate) had to be able to teach Latin as well. Responsibility for education was shifting from the family to the town.

The 1647 law eventually led to the establishment of publicly funded district schools in all Massachusetts towns. The schools were distributed around the town, so that no child had to travel more than a mile or two. The curriculum was basic — reading, writing, and arithmetic.

In larger towns, a young man whose family could afford to forego his labor might attend a grammar school and, if he hoped to enter the ministry, Harvard College. Public did not necessarily mean free. The law did not specify that towns had to pay the full cost. During the colonial period, many Massachusetts towns required students to cover part of the cost by paying tuition, supplying wood for the schoolhouse, or lodging for the schoolmaster.

Nor did public mean universal. At no point in the colonial period were parents required to send their children to school, and many poor children had to be satisfied with whatever education they received at home. Also, not all towns allowed girls to enroll in publicly-supported schools.

• Girls and very young children whose parents could afford the fees attended what were called “Dame Schools,” where a local woman taught reading, writing, and sometimes domestic arts in her home.
• Despite the threat of fines, the record books show that many towns were “shamefully neglectful” of children’s education.

In 1718 “by sad experience it is found that many towns that not only are obliged by law, but are very able to support a grammar school, yet choose rather to incurr and pay the fine or penalty than maintain a grammar school.” Legislators increased the fines once more.

• Some towns complied grudgingly if at all.
• Teachers often complained of schoolhouses that were freezing cold because townspeople failed to supply enough firewood.
• Schoolhouses were usually crude and poorly equipped.
• Most had little more than a chair for the teacher and benches for students, who were obliged to provide their own hornbook (alphabet sheet), spelling book, primer, catechism, and writing supplies.

Colonial Massachusetts was an agricultural society. Once children were old enough to help out on the farm, they usually attended school only in the winter months when their labor was not needed at home. During the five- or six-month sessions, they learned reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.

1. When John Adams drafted the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, he included provisions that guaranteed public education to all citizens.
2. In 1789 Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to pass a comprehensive education law.
3. In updating the colony’s 1647 law, the legislature required all teachers in grammar schools to “provide satisfactory evidence” that they had received a formal education in a college or university and, equally important, were of good moral character.

Even women who taught neighborhood dame schools were to be certified by the selectmen. Just as it had in the colonial period, Massachusetts continued to set the standard for public education in the new United States.
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Who introduced compulsory education in India?

The Resolutions adopted by the 22nd Indian National Congress, held at Calcutta from December 26 to December 29, 1906, pointed out that ‘Government should take immediate steps for (i) making primary education free and gradually compulsory all over the country’ (Report of the Twenty-Second Indian National Congress, 1907,
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Who started free and compulsory education in India?

Struggle Intensifies (1882 A.D. – 1910 A.D.) : – The Indian National Congress was established in 1885 and was rapidly becoming a forum for articulating the seething discontent that has been brewing for sometimes in the heart of the freedom fighters. They, therefore, realized that their demand for Democracy and Home Rule was not likely to be effective unless the masses were educated.

1. Though granted, it would not work successfully unless and until the average men and women were sufficiently educated to discharge their duty and responsibility.
2. Therefore, they agitated for universal education of the masses in order to make it possible for India to become a Free Democratic republic.
3. Credit goes to Indian ruler Sir Sahaji Rao, Gaeak ward of Baroda, who experimented the scheme of compulsory education in his Amreli Tuluk in 1893.

Being successful in his experimentation he extended the area of compulsion, to his whole state by 1896. He was firm believer in universal compulsory education and by experimenting the scheme voluntarily he proved that compulsory education in British India was possible though British Government thought it difficult if not impossible.

For his greatest and remarkable contribution for the cause of compulsory education he was often regarded as the ‘Prince among the Educators and an Educator among the princes’. The first organised attempt in British India for the compulsory education was started in Bombay. The lead was taken by Sir Ibrahim Rahematulla and Sir Chimanlal Seatalwad.

The movement gained some strength and found a source of inspiration in the experiment of compulsory education launched by the State of Baroda. As a rest It of their agitation the Government appointed a committee in 1906 to examine the feasibility and practicability of the introduction of Compulsory Primary Education in the city of Bombay.

Unfortunately it gave a negative report that the time was not ripe for the introduction of compulsory Primary Education. (1910 A.D. – 1917 A.D.) : Gopal Krishna Gokhle, the veteran nationalist leader of India realized the inherent utility of compulsory education and submitted a private bill before the Imperial Legislative Council on the 18th march, 1910, to provide for the compulsory education.

It was a brief and simple document, ingeniously devised to meet the important objections then leveled by the government against the proposal.

• The bill of Gokhle suggested that:
• (i) An Act should be passed authorizing the local bodies to take initiative in the matter and with the sanction of government to introduce free and compulsory education as soon as a suitable background is prepared.
• (ii) Compulsion should be introduced in the case of boys only in the first instance, and it should be extended to girls at a later date as public opinion become sufficiently educated to absorb the idea.
• (iii) Compulsory education should be restricted to a period of four years only in the first instance, 6 to 10 years as in Japan.
• (iv) Compulsion should be introduced in an area where 33% of the boys of school going age are already in school.
• (v) The provincial governments should bear two thirds of the total expenditure involved in the scheme of compulsion.’

When the bill came for discussion in the council, Gokhle knew quite well that he had to deal with skeptical officials on the one hand and a band of conservative opposition among the people in the other. That was why; he was proceeding very cautiously with a hope that at least the general principles of compulsory education would be accepted by the authority.

• But his hopes and inspirations were doomed when the bill was opposed by all the official members and some of the unsympathetic, hostile non- official members and was finally rejected by 38 votes to 13.
• Though the bill gained the support of the eminent persons like Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Md.
• Ali Jinnah, Bhupendranath Basu, yet it could not evade the clutches of the official members.

Not being disheartened, not wounding the feeling of his adversaries and with invincible faith in his cause, Gokhle justly remarked before winding up the debate. “My lord, I know that my bill will be thrown out before the day closes. I make no complaint; I shall not feel even depressed.

1. I have always felt and have often said that we of the present generation in India can only hope to serve our country by our failures”.
2. It is true that Gokhle failed in his endeavour, but he earned the right to be considered as the father of the movement for compulsory education in India.
3. The seeds sown by him came up quickly for harvest.

During 1910 to 1917 there was unprecedented growth of primary education on a voluntary basis. Whatever might be the fate of the bill, his attempts created and molded the public opinion and drew their attention to the cause of the education in general and compulsory education in particular.
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Which state is the beginning of compulsory education in India?

1906 Maharaja Sayajirao Gaikward of Baroda had extended Compulsory primary education to rest of the state. It is the first law on compulsory education was introduced by the State of Baroda in 1906. This law provided for compulsory education for boys and girls in the age groups of 7–12 years and 7–10 years respectively.
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